Tobacco-shelf



J'. M. HODGENS] TOB'AGGO SHELF. V No. 516,533. Patented Mar. 13, 1894.

THE NATIONAL LIYHORAFHING coMPAuv UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES MADISON HODGENS, or GREENWOOD, ARKANSAS.

TOBACCO-SHELF.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,533, dated March 13, 1894.

Application filed October 16, 1893. Serial No. 488,308. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES MADISON Hone- ENS, aoitizen of the United States, and a resident of Greenwood, in the county of Sebastian and State of Arkansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tobacco- Shelves; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved tobacco shelving or frame, showing the same empty. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, showing it partly filled with tobacco caddies and boxes, illustratingtheuse of the shelving; and Fig. 3 is asectional view,

, consists in the peculiar construction of a frame comprisinga number of shelves, whereby separate compartments are formed for holding the tobacco-boxes and caddies, as will be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

On the accompanying drawings, the letters A A denote the upright end pieces of a rectangular frame, and B a central support. These vertical supports or uprights are connected at the bottom by the horizontal bottomsill or floor-shelf O, and on top by the parallel top-sill D. The bottom-sill O is provided with a longitudinal guard or rail 0, and the vertical end-supports A A are faced with narrow boards or cleats, b b, overlapping the ends of the shelving. This shelving consists of two long boards, or partitions, E and E arranged crosswise, or at right angles to each other, in the middle of the rectangular frame formed by the end-pieces A A and top and bottom-sills D and C; the two ends of each of the crossing partitions abuttingagainst the top and bottom-sills, respectively, at an angle of forty-five degrees.

At the points, marked with the letters e e and e e, where the boards or partitions E and E abut against the top-sill D and parallel bottom-sill C, respectively, their ends meet and abut against shorter diagonal boards, F and F, and G and G, also set at an angle to,

or in respect of, the top and bottom sills, and

triangular middle compartments, I and I, are

just half the size of the larger diamond-shaped compartments H and H; while each of the four corner compartments J-, J, J and J are exactly one-fourth the size of the large middle compartments H and H. The latter are divided up, each, into a series 01'' diagonal smaller compartments or subdivsions', h h,

by means of slanting shelves h h, set parallel to one another and at right angles to the partition-boards E and E on which they impinge endwise; while the triangular middle compartments I, I, and the corner compartments J, J, J and J are provided with horizontal A shelves, shown atc't' and j j; thus forming the smaller sub-compartments t" z" and j j. The slanting or inclined compartments h, within the large diamond-shaped compartments H and H, are of such a shape and size that they will fit tobacco-caddies, K, of the standard or regulation size adopted by the wholesale tobacco trade; and the smaller compartments t" i and j j are suitable for the reception, storage and'display'of boxes of cigars and cigarettes, smoking and chewing tobacco in broken packages, jars of snuff, pipes, or any other of the numerous articles kept for sale in a tobacconists shop. The ar rangement of the inclined'partition boards E E,F F, and G G, is such, that they together act as braces to the structure asa whole, making the same very strong and durable. The inclined compartment 71/ form convenient receptacles for the unbroken larger packages or tobacco caddies, which are of sncha height that they will fit into these receptacles or compartments, and when so placed, they otter a neat, compact and attractive appearance. Moreover, by this arrangement, the caddies are easily accessible, and are, at the same time, kept in their position by gravity, as they slide down the inclined planes formed bythe slanting shelves h, so as to press one against the other and thereby keep one another mutually in place.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- I The herein-described frame or shelving for tobacco caddies, consisting of the rectangular frame comprising the vertical side-pieces or uprights A A, horizontal top-sill D and parallel bottom-sill C, and diagonal boards or partitions E E, F F and G G, forming diamond-shaped compartments H and H and triangular compartments I, I; J, J, J and J said diamond-shaped compartments being 

